Leiden gynecologist accused of impregnating 21 women with his own sperm

Between 1973 and 1986, Leiden gynecologist Jos Beek fathered at least 21 children by using his own sperm to impregnate women during fertility treatments, the Alrijne Hospital reported. Beek worked in the Elisabeth Hospital, which merged into Alrijne. He is the third Dutch gynecologist revealed to use his own sperm in treatments, Omroep West reports. 

Beek’s misconduct was discovered when Fiom found DNA matches between 21 people. Fiom helps people track down their biological family. Further investigation showed that the 21 people’s mothers were all treated by Jos Beek in the Elisabeth Hospital. Fiom informed the hospital after the 21 people’s DNA matched with one of Beek’s children in the summer of 2021.

“We were very shocked when we heard about this,” Peter Jue of the Alrijne Hospital’s board of directors said to the broadcaster. “Shocked for the children affected and of course also shocked for the parents.”

As far as is known, Beek used his sperm on women trying to conceive with sperm from an anonymous donor. He worked at Alrijne from 1973 to 1998. He died in 2019. Jue can’t rule out that more people may be affected and asked women to come forward if Beek treated them. 

Beek is the third Dutch gynecologist known to use his own sperm in treatment. Jan Karbaat was the first revealed. He may have fathered some 80 children. Jan Wildschut did the same in the Sophia Hospital in Zwolle, now the Isala Hospital. Wildschut fathered dozens of children. 

The Alrijne hospital asked the Braat committee, which is investigating the Wildschut case in Zwolle, to also look into Beek and his practices.